Strangers in a Strange Land

We are strangers in a strange land, but we are learning.

Since the minute we arrived at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana we have been in training. Our mission: to integrate into the Guyanese culture enough to accomplish the three main Peace Corps goals: to use our skills to help Guyana meet their needs for trained manpower, to help promote a better understanding of American culture abroad and to promote an understanding of Guyanese culture in America.

Guyana is an amazingly beautiful country. Our first view was spectacular. As we descended from the sky, a large river loomed into view, snaking through the hazy, green jungle. The airport, so minor compared to those in States, rose to meet us with its open arms. We shuffled off the plane and the heat was such a relief from the blaring cold of New York. But then the humidity smacked us full on; and it was only 7 in the morning.

The staff and some current volunteers of PC Guyana met us at the airport and escorted us to a nearby resort (a.k.a. a popular hotel with a man-made lake, a destination spot for water activities) where we immediately began our information sessions. Many of our trainers are from Guyana so we have to traverse the Guyanese accent (think Lady Cleo) and catch on to Creolese (basically grammatically improper English). Some of our favorite new sayings are, ‘Small up’ which means ‘scoot over and make room for me’ and ‘walk wit’ which means ‘bring along/take it with you’, as in “Always walk wit your water bottle so you don’t get dehydrated”.  Sorry Dad, we will probably return with very poor grammar.

Yesterday and today’s lessons included Safety and Security, Water Safety (we had to show we are competent in the water by putting on a life vest and floating, kayaking, and swimming a few meters. It was truly hilarious to watch, as many of our trainers did, the 35, mostly white Americans splashing around in three feet of water), Medical Orientation (where we got shot up with yellow fever and rabies and were issued malaria pills), a tour of Georgetown, and an overview of the schedule for our two month training. We also opened a Guyanese bank account and toured the PC Headquarters in G-town.

Tomorrow our community based training begins. We will travel, by bus and speedboat, over the river and through the jungle to the Essequibo Coast. There we will meet our host family!!! Although we will miss the A/C here in the hotel, we are excited to begin orienting ourselves to the real Guyana; the Guyana where, they say, we have to wash our own clothes by hand, cook our own meals (with our families of course) and interact with Guyanese other than our trainers and the staff at the hotel.

We are very tired but we are writing this blog in our hotel room before we turn in with the hopes that we will have a moment tomorrow to upload it when we stop by PCHQ before heading to the coast.  We don’t know when we will be able to post again, or when we will be on Skype but we will keep you posted. The good news is that phone service here is fairly affordable and if we get a GT&T plan we can text any AT&T people in the U.S. We probably won’t do this for the next two months because we are waiting to see if our permanent site has satellite service.

Oh, and as a matter of business, if you plan on sending us any packages please write us an email first so we can give you tips to get it to us with ease. PC staff told us all packages are inspected and we have to pay tariffs on any items inside and there are ways to make this process easier, so email us ahead of time. Thanks!

Now we will say goodnight, which as we found out only after much confusion, is also the common way to say ‘hello’ when you are passing someone on the street at night in Guyana. So ‘goodnight’ and goodnight.